Variety: Psalm 19v1-6

The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
   no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
   like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
   and makes its circuit to the other;
   nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Psalm 19:1–6

God is nothing if not relational. The very being of the Trinity is a community – one in three loving, united persons. Creation is the overflow of love from this first, eternal relationship and rather than being spun off to get on with existing by itself, God moves in and remains involved, walking and talking with Adam and Eve in the garden.

Genesis 3 recounts the terrible fracture between God and humankind, but there are always ways to know him. He wants to be known and his character and ways are not hidden. Creation itself speaks loudly and clearly, revealing knowledge and pouring forth speech (v2).

The English word ‘declare’ in v1 of Psalm 19 is mesaperim in Hebrew, from the same root as the word for the scribes who copied the Scriptures by hand. They were required to replicate each of 304,805 letters perfectly because each mark was of inexpressible worth. In the same way, every detail of creation tells us about God’s glory, his works, his character.

Romans 1:20 says, ‘Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.’ Just as you can see the fingerprints of the potter in a hand-thrown pot, so the imprint of the creator’s touch is visible in the fur of the tiger, the lizard’s tongue, the okapi’s rotating ears, and the glowing petals of the Casa Blanca lily.

In an industrialised economy, it is entirely possible for us to live day to day and week to week disconnected from the rest of creation. We don’t dig our potatoes from the soil, we pull them off a supermarket shelf (or out of a plastic delivery box, in my case!). We spend far longer gazing at screens than at the sky, the sound of traffic drowns out the birdsong. Psalm 19 is an invitation to engage with creation, all our senses alert, and in so doing to encounter the glory of God.

A Rocha International